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Over the next eight days, Hardcore Gamer will be revealing its Best of 2020 Awards leading up to our Game of the Year. Today we present you with the Best Expansion, Handheld Game, Best Developer, Most Disappointing Game and Worst Game. Please note that Cyberpunk 2077 did not meet our eligibility deadline for Best of 2020 Awards, but will qualify for consideration in our 2021 awards alongside any game released after December 9.
Remnant: From the Ashes - Subject 2923
What may have started as a fun-if-flawed take on grueling, third-person shooting, Gunfire Games nailed the 2019 title’s plan for post-release content with not one, but two worthwhile expansions in 2020. The second of which, Subject 2923, proved to be a genuine delight with some of the game’s best, most tense encounters faced thus far. Boss fights more complex and perilous in their design, enemies too offering up new tricks and twists to find some way of countering, complete with a new campaign both procedural and surprisingly labyrinthine alike. Subject 2923 may not have been the most narratively-engaging work out there, but what Remnant has generally lacked with front-and-center storytelling, it has more than made up for with fantastic gunplay, moreish combat, a slew of weird-but-wonderful gear and weapons to collect, as well as a general loop that has kept fans coming back for more again and again. Subject 2923 was a great, concentrated sum of everything Gunfire have positively crafted these past couple of years – cementing Remnant’s status as a highly-recommended, third-person shooter alternative.
Runner-Ups
SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE
Control: The Foundation
Frostpunk: The Last Autumn
The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon
Genshin Impact
Games on mobile/handheld platforms have an unfavorable reputation at being hotbeds for predatory or otherwise monetization-focused methods. Those that aim to draw people in and entice them to spend, spend and spend some more. Regardless of the entry fee or the fact there’s no entry fee, in a financial sense, to begin with. Some of the initial suspicion may have been justified with a game like Genshin Impact but what players soon realized that F2P it was – and trying to steer players a touch towards its in-game shop, it may have done – Genshin Impact was a breath of fresh air, so far as providing a fascinatingly curious world to explore. More importantly, providing us with a game that in no way seemed maliciously fractured or incomplete. Faint praise that may sound, Genshin Impact’s prioritizing on providing players with a vast world to discover, characters to interact with and a frenetic combat system – that actually did well on its intentions for synergy and finding the best elemental balance – was both a revelation to see work so well on handheld systems and an eventual delight to waste dozens upon dozens of hours in.
The Pathless
Reigns: Beyond
No Way Home
South of the Circle
Sucker Punch
Sucker Punch Productions already had built a name for themselves through the Infamous and Sly Cooper games but outdid themselves this year with Ghost of Tsushima. Ghost of Tsushima showcases the amount of effort and care Sucker Punch has in perfecting their craft when it comes to game development. The gorgeous world is brought to life by the incredible performances of the entire cast who help make the player actually care about Jin’s transformation in his quest for the revenge. Additionally, the different viewpoints presented by other NPCs including Khotan Khan are done in a way where even though the player is acting for Jin’s objectives, the other perspectives lead to a more nuanced story where nothing is as simple as black or white. The masterfully-crafted story, memorable performances, amazing visuals and just downright fun gameplay make Ghost of Tsushima a triumph in game development and something the team at Sucker Punch has every reason to be proud of.
Naughty Dog
Bluepoint Games
Moon Studios
Nintendo EPD
Marvel’s Avengers
An Avengers game, on paper, should have been a slam dunk. Insomniac Games hit it out of the park with Marvel’s Spider-Man, so it was easy to fall into the Marvel’s Avengers trap. The result was a disappointing mess. Marvel’s Avengers couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a narrative-driven story, a co-op title or a live service looter. In the end, it wanted to be everything, and every aspect of the game suffered for it. The 10-12 hour campaign was intriguing, but Live Service elements turned many missions into a drag. Meanwhile, actually getting together and playing with your friends was a chore thanks to broken matchmaking. Finally, as a Live Service, Marvel’s Avengers felt empty and hollow thanks to repetition and recycling of missions, locations and objectives. It didn’t help that Marvel’s Avengers launched in a poor technical state, suffering from bugs, glitches and frequent frame rate drops. Marvel’s Avengers should have been great because everything was there for it to succeed, but Crystal Dynamics couldn’t pull it all together. In the end, Marvel’s Avengers is the bitterest of disappointments.
Crysis Remastered
Watch Dogs: Legion
Predator: Hunting Grounds
As if by some twisted irony, less than a year since a remake was hailed the best 2019 could offer, it was left to another reimagining of better days to land completely on the opposite end of that spectrum. XIII may not hold the stature or lasting reputation that a Resident Evil or a Final Fantasy holds, but potential – and indeed, long-time fan curiosity – on how a humble Gamecube release could fair in 2020 was present. That potential looks to have been completely wasted with this year’s remake of XIII. Buggy, broken, ill-treated with a sheer lack of new assets and understanding alike of what gave the original, cel-shaded shooter its appeal. XIII, structurally, may well be a relic of its time, but this year’s remake – with its erratic performance and strangely retrofitted take on art-style — only sullied what fun and novelty the original harbored. From its oddly-compressed cutscenes, to the incompetent intelligence of hostile NPCs, to removal in parts of the charming cel-shaded aesthetic, 2020’s XIII may not have failed spectacularly through some misguided originality all its own, but as a reimagining of a respected 2000s shooter, the result was no less disheartening.
Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad
Bounty Battle
Fast & Furious Crossroads
The Revenant Prince
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